Signature Records
2006
Leave The Light On
About This Album
Chris Smither doesn't do much here that he hasn't done throughout his long career, but there's no crime in consistent excellence. That career, launched during the Boston folk revival of the late '60s, has now encompassed a dozen albums, with a lengthy hiatus throughout most of the '70s and '80s as Smither battled the demons of alcoholism and addiction. He re-emerged in the early '90s as a wizened troubadour, equally adept at self-deprecating humor and heartbreaking balladry, and he continues that tradition on Leave the Light On. As is typical of all his releases, the album's 12 songs split the difference between folk and blues. Smither's propulsive acoustic fingerpicking, heavily influenced by bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins, is as unobtrusively impressive as ever. He's not flashy, but he plays exactly what fits each song. Multi-instrumentalist Tim O'Brien and neo-gospel acolytes Ollabelle contribute fine, understated accompaniment, but Smither is the real star here, wrapping his raspy baritone croon around his increasingly pointed, literate songs of hope and regret. Smither has a knack for selecting exemplary covers, and the sampling on Leave the Light On is no exception.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9)

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